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World Cup 2014

Thought I would start this, should be a fun summer of soccer.

Thoughts on Landon not making the 23? Seems like this is a personal thing that Klinsmann has against Landon. You can't tell me that there are 23 players better than Landon, even if he isn't in best form at the moment in MLS.

Don't ask Marvin Harrison what he did during the bye week. "Batman never told where the Bat Cave is," he explained.

Re: World Cup 2014

Thoughts on Landon not making the 23? Seems like this is a personal thing that Klinsmann has against Landon. You can't tell me that there are 23 players better than Landon, even if he isn't in best form at the moment in MLS.

Yeah, that should be a job costing mistake. There isn't 5 players in the USA better than Landon, let alone 23. That pissed me off greatly.

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Re: World Cup 2014

USA friendly tonight vs. Azerbaijan. Interested to see how the final 23 man roster looks out there. Gotta be very solid as a team to overcome our lack of a true international superstar, especially so in our group.

Re: World Cup 2014

Team definitely looked sluggish/tired today, to be expected after a heavy camp. Subs looked good. I think Aron/Wondo did some good things today to show they deserve time. I know Jozy hasn't had much luck in Premier League but he looked decent today even though he didn't score. Fabian also did well at RB, looking more like he's going to end up starting there. Going to be super important against Ronaldo

Don't ask Marvin Harrison what he did during the bye week. "Batman never told where the Bat Cave is," he explained.

Re: World Cup 2014

Azerbaijan looked horrendous. It was nice to see, at least in the 2nd half, USMNT just dominate scoring changes. AZE had maybe 1 or 2 decent cracks, but USMNT had a ton of good looks and chances. That said, I kept putting everything in the context of the competition, which again looked horrendous.

Good signs:

1. Set pieces. If the USMNT is going to steal any games in Brazil, it will be from scoring off set pieces. There isn't a ton of talent on the USMNT roster, but there is a ton of set piece talent. Graham Zusi and Brad Davis are tremendous options for playing the ball in, and the Nats aren't short on guys who can find the ball in the air.

2. Pace down the wings was terrific. That was not only Bedoya and co. at midfield, but also F Johnson, Chandler and Yedlin. I worry guys like Zusi will bog this down vs WC competition. But pace down wings looked crisp, which I appreciated.

3. As much as I hate his game, I have to admit Wondo works. At least against this level of competition.

4. Johansson continues to look like a bright spot off bench when given opportunities. I think he might be the most calm & collected player on squad when he actually gets a shot-on-goal opportunity. With him, I moreso worry about nervousness and first touch.

Bad signs:

1. Pace and control centrally was a bit of a mess. I'll chalk it up to a one-match thing, but Jones outplayed Bradley last night, and that really can't/shouldn't ever happen.

2. I've been a huge Altidore cheerleader in the same sense I've been a huge Mahinmi cheerleader all season long. But man, both have been killing me lately. Altidore goes to ground (unnecessarily and not for gain) way too often for a holding forward. If he just anchors, holds and distributes, he does his role and I don't even care if he scores. But he only really did that once or twice last nice, and the rest of the time I thought he was taking really poor touches, or generally just not looking particularly useful. I expect more.

3. Besler probably would have given up 2 goals on giveaways to any real level of competition last night.

4. I still have no idea what kind of form we'll see from Clint Dempsey.

Re: World Cup 2014

The expectations are to not make it to the knockout round. With Germany, Portugal, and Ghana, finishing last is most likely and what people expect.

Thanks. I wasn't sure in what group you guys were placed, but that's a tough one indeed. Ours is harsh aswell. We've got Spain, Chili, Australia and then us (The Netherlands) with as added bonus knowing that the #2 of our group will most likely have the "pleasure" of playing host country Brazil immediately after the group phase...yikes !

Re: World Cup 2014

Our group is probably among one of the best teams the US has put out, we just have to steal a draw or win from germany or portugal, a win against Ghana is a complete must to have a chance at advancing. I really like this US squad, they just got ****ed from the draw.

Re: World Cup 2014

I think we can get out of the group but it won't be easy. It's interesting, ever since the Mexico game we've been going 4-4-2 diamond formation. It allows Bradley to have more control and be more involved with the offense which is only a good thing and hopefully keep Jermaine farther back and not interfering as much. But I'm not sure this will work against the better teams because that just leaves us more open than I'd like. Our defense would have to be stellar and right now it's not good. I think having Besler/Cameron as the CBs is the best option and I actually like both of them quite a bit. Fabian at RB is the best option too because he's going to have to defend against Ronaldo and he's the best equipped to do as good a job as any on this team.

Today should be a better test and give a better idea than Azerbaijan did. Turkey isn't really a WC team but they are ranked better and will put up a better fight. I hope they don't play 11 behind the ball and actually test out our defense.

Don't ask Marvin Harrison what he did during the bye week. "Batman never told where the Bat Cave is," he explained.

Re: World Cup 2014

Thoughts from today:

1. Defensive backline was not very good out there today. A lot of that is inexperience playing with each other but that won't cut it. Chandler played himself off the starting XI, he was pretty awful. Yedlin/Brooks came on in the 2nd half and did a very very solid job. I wonder if you consider going with Brooks in the XI, probably not.

2. Diamond formation looks too risky and too open. Portugal and Germany would slaughter us with the defense we played. Having just one defender back in that diamond is killer. I don't think it is going to work.

3. Jozy played well but still hasn't gotten a goal. He needs to score soon or he will be useless. Clint didn't have a good game

Don't ask Marvin Harrison what he did during the bye week. "Batman never told where the Bat Cave is," he explained.

Re: World Cup 2014

I was disappointed with his play today. There was no excuse for him not having 2 goals.

I disagree. He actually should have had a goal but got called for a weak foul. I thought his hold up play was really good and he made a couple of really nice passes to open players. All he needs to do is get one into the net and he'll start exploding like last year. But I thought he played quite well

Don't ask Marvin Harrison what he did during the bye week. "Batman never told where the Bat Cave is," he explained.

Re: World Cup 2014

I have no idea what is happening with Besler. He looked like a future star in 2013, and now he's been a bum. I like how Cameron and Fabian Johnson have been playing, but left back and Besler are a concern. The backline is only as strong as their weakest link.

Re: World Cup 2014

I think that's the best possible scenario. They get extra time to prepare for Ghana. We don't win that game, we don't move on in all likelihood. Plus getting Germany last is good too, hopefully they have the group wrapped up by that point.

Apparently Ronaldo has some tendinitis in his left knee, maybe that'll help us too.

Don't ask Marvin Harrison what he did during the bye week. "Batman never told where the Bat Cave is," he explained.

Re: World Cup 2014

I am still not really over the fact that we left Donovan off of the 23. Think that is going to haunt us. You are talking about the best player in American history and a guy with repeated World Cup scoring success. I know he's maybe lost a bit, but just seems like a huge mistake any way I look at it.

Re: World Cup 2014

I am still not really over the fact that we left Donovan off of the 23. Think that is going to haunt us. You are talking about the best player in American history and a guy with repeated World Cup scoring success. I know he's maybe lost a bit, but just seems like a huge mistake any way I look at it.

Especially since none of the forwards in this group really look able to go a full 90'. Maybe Altidore, but he looked gassed toward the end of the last match. Why not have Donovan on the roster to come in at the 60-75' window? Just weird.

Re: World Cup 2014

Agreed. Landon didn't need to be Landon for 90 anymore. He just needed to be Landon for 15 or 20 minutes, and he could have been no doubt in my mind. Guy has a knack for scoring in the cup, I've been hoping for a minor injury to someone unimportant so Landon can work his way on.

Re: World Cup 2014

If you want Landon at Forward I don't really have a problem with the decision. Landon isn't going to start over Altidore and Aron Johannsson is a much better player right now than Landon. If you want to put him out wide I guess you could make that argument, I'm not a huge fan of Zusi or Davis. But there's no space for him at forward, even Wondo had been playing better.

Don't ask Marvin Harrison what he did during the bye week. "Batman never told where the Bat Cave is," he explained.